The invention relates to a heat exchanger, in particular a condenser for an air conditioning system of a motor vehicle.
Condensers for air conditioning systems, as are disclosed for example by EP-A 915 308, have a coolant flowing through them, said coolant entering the condenser via a coolant connecting flange and leaving the condenser again via a further coolant flange. The connecting flanges have a continuous coolant duct which is connected, on the one hand, to a collecting tube of the condenser and, on the other hand, to a coolant inlet line or coolant outlet line. The entire condenser, composed essentially of a tube/rib block, the collecting tubes and the connecting flanges, is soldered in one operation in a soldering oven. For this purpose, it is necessary for the connecting flanges for the soldering process to be secured to the collecting tubes. Hitherto this was done by means of additional parts or soldering devices which has delayed the fabrication process.
A two-part connecting flange for attaching a coolant line to a condenser has been disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,716. The condenser has a collecting box with a planar connecting face onto which a cuboid connecting block is fitted and is soldered to the collecting box. A coolant line is welded to an adaptor piece which is screwed to the connecting block. The coolant connection from the coolant line is made via the adaptor and a coolant duct in the connecting block. This coolant connection has a plurality of parts and mounting steps and is therefore associated with relatively high manufacturing costs.
EP-A 1 167 897 has disclosed a soldered flat tube condenser with two collecting tubes and one collector which is arranged parallel to one of the collecting tubes and is connected on the coolant side to this collecting tube by means of a connecting block with two connecting ducts. Coolant flows out of the condenser into the collector and back again into the condenser from the collector via this connecting block which is soldered to the collecting tube of the condenser. The connecting block has connectors, which are each extensions of the coolant connecting ducts and are inserted into openings in the collecting tube and secured thereto by tack welding or interference fitting. The parts are then soldered. Subsequent to the soldering process, the collecting container is screwed to the connecting block and sealed with respect to it. The collecting container is additionally connected in its upper region to the collecting tube by means of a clamp. The connecting block is thus a connecting and attachment part between the collecting tube and collecting container. The coolant lines are connected, in a way which is not illustrated, to the collecting tubes via an inlet flange and an outlet flange.